 "Photo: Jon Eilts")
Days after Hurricane Ike made landfall on the Texas Gulf, people in the Brazos Valley felt effects stronger than the wind and rain.
Wayne Larson, the communications director for College Station, said there would be an impact on residents for weeks on gas, grocery stores and traffic.
"It will be a challenge, but with the combined spirit of Aggies and residents eager to help, we do not anticipate any problems," Larson said.
He said the people of College Station should feel fortunate and be patient when it comes to restaurants, grocery stores and gas stations.
Bryan Emergency Management Coordinator Jerry Henry said the Brazos Valley is better off than surrounding counties in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Ike and is fully equipped to assist evacuees.
"Generally, Brazos County is in good shape," Henry said. "There have been some gas station shortages but I think most, if not all, do have fuel."
Henry said a lack of electricity in surrounding counties and evacuees might have a small impact on residents.
"Other than an influx of people and a higher demand on goods at the moment, we are in good shape," Henry said.
Hotels in College Station and Bryan have been housing evacuees from Houston, Galveston and surrounding areas since late last week. Electricity has been slow to return to impacted areas, leaving evacuees with no choice but to remain in hotel rooms.
Ron Fulton, general manager of the Hampton Inn, said that out of 133 rooms, 20 are occupied by hurricane evacuees.
"Most of them [evacuees] are coming and going," Fulton said. "Many are waiting to the last minute to see whether or not they can return home."
Fulton said most evacuees he has encountered have made other accommodations if they plan to stay for a longer period of time. He said he had only turned away one or two evacuees because of their desired length of stay or large family size.
Another concern for local hotels is the influx of Aggie fans for this weekend's football game and how this will affect evacuees.
"My regular business won't be affected," Fulton said. "Since most of the evacuees are planning to return to Houston soon, game weekend shouldn't be a problem."
In fact, Fulton said that he had received a few calls from some generous Aggie fans.
"Some people who made reservations for this weekend have called to cancel and offered their rooms for evacuees," Fulton said.
Michelle Soucie, manager of the Memorial Student Center Hotel, said she has had the same experience with hurricane evacuees.
"Out of 26 rooms, 20 are occupied by evacuees right now," Soucie said.
She said most evacuees in the MSC Hotel are from Houston and are waiting for power to return to their homes. She is not expecting game weekend reservations to affect the evacuees.
"They [evacuees] expect to have power back on soon and none of them have extended their stay through the weekend," Soucie said. "People who made reservations for this weekend will definitely have a room."
Assistant manager of the Hyatt Place, Aaron Boles, said evacuees are occupying half of the hotel's 91 rooms.
"They are beginning to trickle back home since they are slowly getting power back on," Boles said. "No evacuees have said they want to stay past Friday."
He said there would be no conflict with game weekend reservations made at the Hyatt Place.
At the Hilton Hotel, front office manager Naomi Garcia said hurricane evacuees have occupied 90 percent of the 303 available rooms. However, she said these evacuees would be affected by game weekend reservations.
"The evacuees were notified that they would have to find somewhere else to go because of reservations made for this weekend," Garcia said.
She said evacuees staying at the Hilton made arrangements for the weekend and some would return on Sunday.
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